#The Flavour Thesaurus

[dinnickhowellslikes]

#Book Design #The Flavour Thesaurus #grade design

[jvzebel-x]

🥂

#i found the most accurate way to describe how i feel about everyone being so fucking weird about this movie lmao. #her first couple tweets were actually laughing at jlc winning an award for it which ya i obviously also agree there LOL. #but more than anything else i think its just important to note two facts in every situation like this: #1. most racist undertones (vs overtones) irt culturally influenced media come from a place of flat out hatred #at being asked to consider happiness in a flavour that doesnt make it completely possible to forget other ppl exist lmao. #(if this movie had ft yt ppl doing martial arts in a multiverse setting ppl would have... oh wait i dont have to finish that do i.) #2. most ppl experiencing these racist undercurrents are also fucking pussies&would rather bend+break while jerking it to a thesaurus #than just admit to being miserable little cunts who dont like sharing the world w ppl not exactly like them #so they think sharing cultural relevance is the same thing as having a gun to their head&being forced to watch it lmao. #undescribed

[cuteclaycritters]

the flavour thesaurus lambkhoresh with rhubarb

#the #flavour #thesaurus #with

[pebblysand]

idk if i should make this a weekly instalment cause every time, i feel like this is too funny not to share. so, here are the things i googled while writing castles this weekend 😅:

"ragged skin"

Kylian Mbappé

can you have sex while pregnant [i feel the need to state for the record that i know the answer to this, i was just looking for some of those dumb reddit posts where men are like "but surely, my massive penis is too big!" to see how they were phrased 🤣]

[the above didn't yield anything i could use, so:] can my penis reach the cervix?

green desk lamps

london (google maps)

north sea beach england

cozy up to meaning

can you have ice cream when pregnant [i thought so but wanted to be sure cause it occurred to me there's milk in it]

classic ice cream flavours uk

video of newborn baby

peaky blinders quote babies make ["everything okay. babies stop everything." - 4x01, lizzie says it.]

warnings feux voiture en anglais ("hazard lights," you're welcome)

watergate scandal

symptom internal bleeding

british word for stroller [i actually was looking for the word "pram" but "buggy" wasn't yielding anything in my thesaurus so i thought maybe if i asked for this, it would come up (it did)]

average weight baby uk

lbs meaning

gas & air machine labour (google images)

i think i am done with chapter 20. i have shared the draft with some #trustedindividuals to confirm. as i said in my last update, i would like to write (maybe not fully but at least have a good headstart) chapter 21 before posting this one, because i'm not 100% of where i want to split both chapters, so i need to see how long 21 is. but yay, progress!

#castles

[tirrrb]

I recently just finished watching the colour purple, a movie centred in Georgia as a social commentary of normalcy on life.

Well as normal as a day in the life of an Atlanta pedestrian can be, juxtapoxistion, maybe, take that as you will.

When I say “life” I mean, race, gender, and environment, the subjective jelly inside of our donut which dictates our flavour.

I’m kinda like popmerknickle

There’s an idea that the “jelly” of life is separate from the donut, and that’s so fatal to the causation of real trauma people experience everyday. You can’t define your life’s experience with a thesaurus no matter how hard you try to in your tinder profile. In the same way this thiny veiled film of outwards perception doesn't begin to summarise the joy of taste that is you.

The sanctity of your flavour must be kept sacred babe.

However, we still try to define life’s experiences, under hegemony right. This is where we get theory from, this is where we get nuanced subjective experience in the framework. Metaphorically speaking, the social relations you make in your day to day life, the act of caring for yourself or others, the complacency of normalcy you partake in whatever way defines your act of “life”.

It’s important to ask what our sense of “normalcy” within community contributes to. I’m under the impression that we’re all flowers, one of my friends is a tulips that sparkles blue, one of my friends is a dazzling yellow chrisanthemum, I’m a cactus.

The way we water each other and ourselves changes because we’re not all the same flower, we have different needs, different ways of watering each other situated around those needs, my photosynthesissss, needs a cuddle night sometimes and that’s okay.

And although our inter-communal interactions can be beautiful, ignoring the reality of how they came to be is a disservice to the love given to me. If I did that I’d only be watching myself grasp in failure and agony at a sliver of an aesthetic of love I’m comprehending on their surface.

I’ve been thinking a lot about trauma and what that means towards community, because we’re so much more than just the good moments of our lives right, we’re also the horrible, the beaten metaphorically or even literally generation who are coming to an age of adulthood. With that maturity comes the ability to form your own reality. As someone who’s had a shonen father and yandere mother who lusts for my downfall. The sanctity of chosen relationships has never been this cemented in my life. Afterall we don’t choose our circumstances, we’re born into them.

#the colour purple #normalcy

[boyjoan]

save me flavour thesaurus by niki segnit

#im having so much fun

[thefirstknife]

The author of that raid lore you shared reminds me of Toland. It's written in a similar structure and tone to his letters as well as being about something he would know.

His Bad Juju lore showed he knew "how high up the pyramid of casualty really went" Implying about The Witness or Disciples all the way back in Opulence.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this lore was him and he somehow gleaned thos knowledge in his journey la

Post we're referring to!

Toland is a good idea actually, but to me, Toland speaks much more... chaotically? And he tends to address the reader directly. He also adds way more poetic descriptions. Bad Juju is actually a perfect example of how much his speech pattern doesn't match, with the way he uses old-timey words, references and structure like he has a thesaurus memorised. Another lore tab (Ghost Fragment: Darkness 3) that might be more relevant here also shows this; he is very chaotic here, arguing basically with an imaginary audience, all caps yelling, repeating words. Also his allegory of the three queens is grandiose and over the top.

The raid lore tab felt more impersonal, not written to anyone in particular, more like for anyone who may find it and seemingly not trying to convince anyone of anything. Just a philosophical argument, metaphorical, but direct and without much complications. No fancy words and the allegory is fairly simple. Also the first paragraph is meant to describe the vibe of the author:

Specifically the mention of this thing being "barely-real" and deep in metaphor and allegory is what makes me think most of the Unveiling where the author explicitly explains that the story of the Garden is an allegory, alongside these nebulous entities of the Winnower and the Gardener.

But Toland definitely knows a lot about the Darkness and definitely has insight into this philosophy. I'm not sure who else might fit here, especially given the first paragraph which is very important for identification. For comparison, this is how Mara is described as an author:

And this is Eris:

And Savathun:

These are fairly easily identifiable, especially with the rest of the text. It's an important flavour to set the page, so it must be clear once we have an author candidate. Some are more vague, but they definitely reveal the overall identity, like the two tabs that are written from the perspective of a member of the Ecumene and the Qugu, as well as one which is from a long-dead disciple. We don't know the exact individuals here and their names, but we can guess the general idea.

I really love this lore book and I love that it brought some more mysterious and ancient elements that feel like we aren't really meant to know them. The universe is a big place and far older than us and there are entire civilisations that have risen and died before we ever existed and their records are preserved in the memory of Darkness. This lore book is insight into some of them, among insight from our allies.

I'm really interested if others have different ideas of who might be speaking! As far as other options go, Toland isn't too far off given his deep connection to Darkness and the Sword Logic.

#destiny 2 #toland #darkness #the root of nightmares raid #long post #lore vibing #ask

[velvetwastaken]

fic ask game! 3, 10, 23, 25, 37, 49 (i tried not to pick too many but it ended up being a lot anyway, sorry!)

Hi anon! You got nothing to apologize for! You could have listed them all and I would have been nothing but flattered lol

So I answered #s 3 and 10 here, but I can try to dig deeper if you want different answers 😂 just let me know lol

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

A mafia AU, or something along those lines. I actually do have an ayalumi wip that is kind of a mafia AU? It’s kamisato crime family flavoured anyway, lol. One day I’ll finish it 😬

Also scifi! Again, I have a wip, but I think I ran into some plot problems and so the whole thing foundered. I need to workshop it someday soon.

25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?

I love the OneLook Thesaurus. It’s a godsend for writers I think.

I also just always have a regular dictionary and thesaurus handy. Gotta make sure those pesky words mean what I think (hope?) they mean 😂

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

hmm. There’s a couple I feel like I could pick here, but one for sure would just be me complaining, so I’ll go with that witches ganqing AU one shot, Post Tenebras Lux.

I guess the fic itself is nothing special, and it definitely comes across as incomplete, but I’m obsessed with the setting—the vibes, if you will. I think about it a lot, and I really want to expand on it one day. I like that Ganyu is this mysterious and dangerous being, and that Keqing is so selfless and earnest in a way that only Keqing can be. I think it could be the start of something great.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

Yeah, okay. Obviously it's ganqing because what else would it be, but I shan't give any more context than that, haha.

“Thank you,” says Ganyu, and without thinking, she leans in and presses a kiss to Keqing's forehead. As Keqing stiffens, she realizes that is probably pushing the limits of what Keqing is comfortable with right now. She's about to apologize, but she stops herself. She’s not sorry, not in the slightest; in fact she’s gotten rather used to being a little bit selfish lately.

#thanks for the ask anon! hope i answered them satisfactorily 😅 #ask game

[noosphe-re]

Shop-bought or cultivated blackberries, tall as beehive hairdos, bright as spit-and-polished toecaps, may sometimes be pleasantly sweet but they never, ever have the countervailing intensity of sharpness, mustiness and deep spice that comes of growing in the wild. There are hundreds of different strains of wild blackberry, and a berry picked in one spot may taste quite different from another a few feet away. Look for notes of rose, mint, cedar and clove beyond the generic berry flavors. Some even have a shimmer of tropical fruit. Come August, when there should be plenty to choose from, treat the hedgerows like free-sample ladies, and once you’ve found a juicy, full-flavored strain, denude the bush until your ice-cream carton is full. Black, shiny fruit won’t be as sweet as those that have reached the matt blue-black of full ripeness, but then again, they’re less likely, having retained their bulbous resistance, to dissolve in your grasp like a teenager’s handshake. Although blackberries can add a fruity, spicy flavor to sweet vanilla cakes or sauces for game, they have an overriding affinity for apple – so much so they could almost be monogamous.

Niki Segnit, The Flavour Thesaurus

#Niki Segnit #flavour #flavor #food #cooking #blackberries #blackberry #The Flavour Thesaurus #quote #gastronomy #berries

[purgatoriorpg]

admin c-senpai, please, if it’s not a bother, can you please give us some writing tips? you’re so talented, I’m literally shocked, no joke, your writing is flawless!!!! The aesthetic??? On point

Anon, this is so lovely of you to say. Thank you!! It depends on what kind of writing you’re talking about as I find depending on the format or purpose, your approach and style can change dramatically to suit those needs. But in general, here are some things off the top of my head that have helped me over the years:

PRACTICE: I hate the cliche of this but truly practice makes perfect. I’ve been writing or roleplaying in some shape or form for 10+ years. No matter how long or short the writing was, or how objectively “good” or well thought-out, everything I’ve ever written has helped me become a better writer. Writing is a craft and a skill, the more you do it, the more you’ll grow and learn how to be even better. Write badly, begin with self-forgiveness.

VOCABULARY: I don’t know if this is still considered a taboo anywhere? but I write with Google Thesaurus always open. Not because I deliberately want to write ‘purple prose’ or sound more elevated but because my short-term memory doesn’t always contain all the vocabulary that I actually know and sometimes you need a different / unique / more interesting word to articulate what you want to say in a sentence. I love finding more interesting ways to phrase a particular sentence — especially if it adds dynamism or rhythm to the sentence / imagery / moment. I also used to keep a list of favourite words / phrases that I would refer to for inspiration, collect your own favourite words and sprinkle them in your writing for flavour. 

VARIATION: One of the easiest ways to make your writing more interesting and readable is to vary your sentence structure and style. Each sentence has a rhythm and sense of beat — if you were to read it out loud, what would it sound like? Using longer words, longer phrases and clauses will lengthen the feeling and emotion whereas shorter, sharper sentences and simpler words will strike closer to the heart. The best examples of this are where poets and authors will drop in a short punchy three or four word sentence (or even just a single word) to punctuate a verse or paragraph. It’s where they put emphasis. Use structure to build momentum and atmosphere, and also to hit hard and fast when you need it to. 

REFERENCES: Everything I’ve ever written has been full of references to all my favourite things — mythology, divinity and biblical lore, classic literature, etc. It’s also an easy way to craft metaphors and imagery that immediately create associations in your audience’s mind. This is basically where having a place where you collect your inspirations and favourite quotes comes in handy. Also Pinterest boards, Spotify playlists, etc. 

STRUCTURE: This depends on what you’re writing but even in roleplay where things are spontaneous and unplotted, I always try to go into a thread with a rough idea of what I want my character to have said / felt / done by the end of the interaction. It might be down to my Capricorn Moon but I love structure, I love having things plotted and planned down to the very last detail. Roleplay interactions don’t fit perfectly into this formula because you want to use your chemistry with your partner and let your characters’ imaginations run wild, but you can have an idea of the ‘end goal’ of the thread, i.e. the point that you need to arrive at by the end. I approach all roleplay ideas with this question: “What needs to happen at the end of this event / scene / thread?” So even if you don’t know what exactly will happen, you know what the end point is and how you get there will just unravel organically in real-time writing.

IMAGERY: Imagery is probably the thing I’ve spent the most time unconsciously perfecting and refining throughout my time writing and roleplaying. Every character I write has a specific aesthetic and set of references I’ll call on and repeatedly use throughout their writing, e.g. an actor or dramatic character — Shakespeare, plays & theatre, tragedy; the head of a crime syndicate — war, blood, divine violence, biblical references; a young prince — the Trojan War, Greek mythology, sun imagery; a doctor — surgery & death, the Reaper, flowers & immortality. This is one of the ways I paint a specific image and vibe for my characters that translates through to everything I write — metaphors / similes / analogies / everything that goes into a response becomes infused with those particular references and aesthetics. I also really like using specific occupations, disciplines or hobbies to explore a character’s mindset and terminology e.g. science, engineering, music, medicine, astronomy, art. A musically inclined character doesn’t merely pause, they’re resting between beats, their silences are interludes, or a conductor’s wand hovering in the air before the next movement, their movements are a violin bow singing through the air, their laughter is a cadenza, their grief is an elegy or a requiem. You can do the same with literally everything — scientists that are obsessed with the stars, or death, or immortality, or nature; engineers that approach everything like a schematic, a problem to be solved or deconstructed. Your character’s worldview frames the unique language you can use and the way you describe them.

MOTIVATION: My final bit of advice is probably something I’ve arrived at and become clearer about in more recent years, which is, understanding your character’s root motivations. To write a really compelling and interesting character, you need to know what drives them and what makes them tick. This is why in the application for this roleplay, the first thing I ask is the Impetus. What would your character kill for? What would they die for? Push them to the extreme, and dig deep into what their core is. When you know this, it informs everything you write about that character. They have purpose, they have a reason to do XYZ. Every character in a story needs purpose to be interesting, otherwise they’re just floating around without meaning. Even characters that lack purpose want something, and that something should shape their actions and development. Ultimately, knowing what your character wants outlines their ‘plot arc’ in your story or roleplay. Their goal is what they will achieve at the end. They will experience obstacles, develop / progress / regress, and encounter allies / antagonists on their journey to achieve this goal. Whether you love or hate a character, someone with a strongly defined purpose and motivation will always capture people’s attention.

#answered.

[recurringwriter]

Whenever I write scenes, I’m worried that it feels flat, like watching a character go through a list of actions without any feeling. So any thoughts on how to effectively integrate emotion into action?

i think that's something that every writer struggles with, and the best ways to get more comfortable with it are probably to read (and make notes on what sentences suck you into the action/make you feel something) and to just practice writing. the former can be frustrating, because if you're absorbed by the action you forget to make notes, and reading 'like a writer' is something that you have to practice, too.

more direct advice that i hope is useful to you:

sentence structure - change up the length of your sentences, and the starting word of each one. if you keep beginning sentences with 'he fought/he jumped/he leapt/he saw' it feels stilted and stale. try beginning with an adjective, 'red blood flowed to the ground', a verb 'leaping towards the fray--' or even an adverb 'heavily, he fell'. adverbs are Allowed, contrary to popular belief. there's a reason they exist, and that's to add a modifier to a verb that doesn't quite get the point across. moderation is always key, but don't be afraid to use them when you feel that your available verbs aren't strong enough. beginning with a short sentence, then a slightly longer one, then a full description, or vice versa, can also give a sense of importance or urgency as needed. my examples are all heavy-action, but it works for smaller things, too. just describing a character stepping into the kitchen can be interesting if you mix up the sentence length.

visualization - try to fit yourself into the mind of your character. for brief transitional passages it's fine to be distant, but when you want the emotion present try to think of how your body would feel in that position. would you sigh? would your lungs fill--if so, how does the air feel? is it sharp, cold, humid, what? what are your steps like, how do your muscles feel? what does the character's body say that they aren't?

action words - use words that give a sense of feeling. 'stumbling' is very different from 'falling'. combine with visceral, familiar sensations, again, how your body would feel when you're experiencing that kind of emotion. grounding an emotion in a character makes it relatable to the reader. so fear isn't just the threat of danger looming, it's the hesitant steps, the churning of the stomach, the opening and closing of palms. i tend to use breathing a lot as indicators of emotion, i'm... not sure if that's good or not. but it's what i do. happiness can be in a grin, or a little shimmy of shoulders as you sidle closer to someone. if you're uncertain of a word that feels flat, look into the thesaurus and savour other options, see which one gives the right emotion for the scene. connotations are a tool for you to use. i think that's the common advice i've seen: 'don't just think about writing What the character is doing, but also How they are doing it'. that ties into everything else: why, and where, and when. integrated.

lastly, practice is the best. don't give up because it feels flat. write it out anyway, and you'll find that you'll learn the flow with time. designate a block of time to write--if you stop after each sentence it can be harder to find a rhythm (but not impossible). even when you do know (somewhat) what you're doing, and what looks good, you sometimes have to break past an initial uncertainty by dragging yourself through basic actions and into a more confident writing headspace. flavour can be added to the initial sentences later. read lots and you'll internalize a lot of what you see, and then write. hard as it may be, reread what you've written. you will likely get a scrunched-up unpleasant feeling inside. that's good--it means you're recognizing that something isn't living up to how you want the writing to look. rewrite what makes you unhappy. you're learning, and improving with each word you write.

try to have fun. explore different scenarios, use characters that you think are funny or sad or that you want to be. make lists of action words if it helps. divide them up by emotions--positive, negative, angry, sad, etc.

#long post #writing #writing ask #emotion #action #i'm maybe too hungry to be thinking clearly #all i can really think of is practice. feedback helps. probably holding your action up to a comparable scene? #definitely reread. it might not be as flat as you initially think. if it is then play with structure and verbage

[1fast3furious]

Surprisedinner Tag 11 Anni mit Besuch von Dani

Dieser Dinnerabend wurde von dem erwürfelten Lieferdienst-Dinner inspiriert.

Dani, meine Sister in Crime kam auf die Idee, Rezepte aus einem Kochbuch per Zufall zu generieren. Ihr Mann war die erste Lottofee.

Er entschied für uns "Basilikum" und "Salbei". Was sind das für Rezepte?, haben wir uns gefragt und mit weiteren Zusatzahlen und einer Internetrecherche das Dinner finalisiert.

Surprisedinner, here it is:

Vorspeise:

Pochiertes Ei mit griechischem Joghurt und Salbei

Hauptgang:

Kichererbsencurry mit Spinat und Basilikum

Und hier die Rezepte:

Das Knäckebrot:

Für unser nächstes Dinner benötigen wir zwei neue Zahlen von euch:

1. Zahl von 13 bis 352

2. Zahl von 1 bis 9

Wir möchten nämlich unser Buch, den Flavour Thesaurus näher kennenlernen.

[bitterfucked]

reading this flavour thesaurus and it has a glowing review for caesars from the perspective of someone who has never had one and like ya. i guess you gotta sell it that way. but it’s more than time already for everyone to be wise to clamato

death to bloody mary, long live the caesar

#alcohol tw #clamato shall reign supreme

[frangipanidownunder]

Giving Thanks: fic

For the anons who requested 1 “We’re not just friends and you fucking know it.” and 30  “I think I forgot how to breathe” from the recent prompt list. Thanks you!

Set post season 11 but I played with the timeline of the pregnancy a little to fit the season.

The invitation was a surprise. Many recent Thanksgivings had been spent apart – Mulder at the house, poking around places on the internet she didn’t want to know about, hey Scully, did you know that Robert de Niro went undercover as an Uzbek homeopath when he attempted to assassinate Malala? Her, at her mother’s house under the guise of a traditional family dinner, that usually descended into the usual Charlie-bashing-fest after Bill jr took one too many ports. Or alone in her sterile apartment.

           Now, Bill jr was stepping up. Extending an invitation to spend the afternoon at his small gathering.

           Mulder plucked the card from her hand. “Plus one?”

           She booped his shoulder. “That would be you.”

           Holding the invitation outwards, he yelled, “I’m Fox Freaking Mulder, you punk-ass, arrogant older brother of my…my…”

           “Partner?” Scully said, whipping the card back from him.

           “That will only restrict his understanding of our relationship to us working together.”

           “BFF?”

           “Best fucking friends?” Mulder bit into a corner of toast, leaving crumbs in his stubble which she’d have to kiss away later.

           “For a man who spends so much time on the internet, your understanding of acronyms and text-speak is sorely lacking, Mulder. Best friends forever. How about companion? Sweetheart?” He shook his head vigorously at each of her suggestions, closing the space between them. “Booty call? Netflix and chill?” She tiptoed and swiped her tongue over his jawline, collecting peanut-butter flavoured morsels. “Lovers?” Her voice dipped and his hand graced the curve of her hip.

           “I like the sound of that.”

           “We have to tell him.”

           He did a barf face. “Ew! That we’re lovers?”

           She kissed him again and walked to the stairs. “You know what I mean. Now, come with me. I’ve got thanks to give.” 

Bill pulled open the door and greeted them with that blank-eyed smile he’d perfected. Tara took their offerings to the kitchen. Shaking Mulder’s hand seemed like an effort and he air-kissed Scully’s cheeks, quick to show them through to the lounge. The other guests stood holding their tongues and their pre-dinner drinks.

           “Let me introduce my sister, Dana. And her…” Bill cast a look over at Mulder, pushing his lips out and mentally sorting his own thesaurus of suitable terms, “friend, Fox. Although, he prefers Mulder,” he added with a chuckle, “which is probably just as well.”

           She fixed him with a steely glare, one that said, “We’re not just friends and you fucking know it.”

           He named all the other guests, relations of Tara and some work colleagues but by the time he’d finished, Scully had all but forgotten them. He nodded to Tara who was carrying sparkling wine flutes. Scully declined asking for water. Mulder watched Bill pouring himself a large whisky on ice.

           “Go ask for one,” Scully said, sipping her wine.

           Mulder stepped forward but Bill lifted his hand in greeting to Frank or Fred or whoever he was, wearing the too-short pants and an arrogant smile.

Mulder looked back at her. “Guess I’ll fix it myself.”

So, that was how it was going to be.

 There was a spot at the back of Bill’s yard, tranquil, shaded by an oak that had stood sentry for decades. She touched the bark, feeling its roughness under her fingers, its quiet wisdom affording her some calm before the storm. The sky was an incongruous summer blue, cloudless. It was idyllic, she thought. They should give thanks. For everything. They had survived. That was a miracle in and of itself. And now this. She touched her stomach as Mulder tilted his face to the heavens, gathering whatever strength he might need.

              Bill strode towards them, hands marching by his sides, face set to neutral. In the late afternoon light, she saw how his hair was greying and how much he’d aged in recent times. Liver spots covered the back of his hands and his middle was stout, not quite like their father’s but getting there.

              Mulder leant down to her and whispered. “I think I forgot how to breathe.”

              “He’s not that scary,” she said, jabbing him in the ribs.

              “He’s seen military service. He votes Republican. He probably uses a cut-throat razor blindfold. He’s scary.”

              “You’ve faced down a bile-covered liver-eating mutant.”

              He smirked. “I suddenly have a soft spot for old Eugene Victor Tooms.”

              “Mulder!” She squashed her giggling face into his shoulder.

              Bill clicked his heels together as he stood before them. “I’m not sure why we couldn’t just stay in the dining room. Tara’s serving dessert.”

              “We wanted a private moment,” Scully started and felt Mulder move his hand to the small of her back. A welcome boost.

              “We’re having a baby,” she said. The way it sounded was still all bent and out-of-step. The words tasted foreign on her tongue, but the rippling in her belly, the soft, proud breath that Mulder let out, the way the oak’s canopy shimmied and let the light fall through, those things told her it was going to be okay, whatever reaction Bill had.

              Bill quirked his head, lowered his eyebrows. He went to speak, but she could see how he was stumped, uncertain how to proceed. The military prepared a man for the order of conflict. Not for the chaos of life.

              Mulder stepped away from her and offered his hand to Bill. This time, her brother clutched it, covered it with his other hand. “It’s a shock for us all, but it’s the truth.”

              “The truth, huh? After all these years.” There was a slightly bitter note to Bill’s words, but he shook Mulder’s hand anyway, pumped it, in fact, a glimmer of a smile tugging at his lips. “I didn’t even know you two were…”

              “Neither did we,” Mulder said and looked back at her.

              She smiled as the sunlight dappled the grass and Bill laughed, loud and free.

#txf fanfic #my fanfiction #season 11 msr #pregnancy fic

[adz]

In a 1997 review for the New York Observer, the recently kinged David Foster Wallace diagnosed how far Updike had fallen in the esteem of a younger generation. ‘Penis with a thesaurus’ is the phrase that lives on, though it is not the levelling blow it first appears; one feels oddly proud, after all, of a penis that has learned to read. Today, he has fallen even further, still in the pantheon but marked by an embarrassed asterisk: DIED OF PUSSY-HOUNDING. No one can seem to agree on his surviving merits. He wrote like an angel, the consensus goes, except when he was writing like a malfunctioning sex robot attempting to administer cunnilingus to his typewriter. Offensive criticism of him is often reductive, while defensive criticism has a strong flavour of people-are-being-mean-to-my-dad. There’s so much of him, spread over so much time, that perhaps everyone has read a different John Updike.

Patricia Lockwood on John Updike

#amazing

[3smuth]

I've been making some proof-of-concept designs for my theoretical return to Kamigawa in my spare time. Figured I'd share a few.

Menace of Jukai

Like the pseudo-Magikarp I posted recently, this is intended to be something recognisably Japanese even to those not deeply familiar with the culture, and just individually cool enough to enjoy nonetheless. The first mechanic actually came from the name - I was looking for something in the vein of Scourge of Numai, and my thesaurus turned up "menace". It seemed strange to name it that without giving it Menace, until I realised I could work another nine into the card by giving it super-Menace. Red doesn't get this kind of virtually unblockable creature very often, but as a pushed version of Menace it definitely feels Red and I think it's an acceptable bend. I also like how it requires you to use a whole 'village' to stand up to it.

The second ability is another bend. Red does get recursion, and though that is typically reserved for phoenixes, it is allowed the rare exception (like Squee) provided it's exciting enough - I figured this fulfilled that requirement. The ability is intended to feel like the Demon is being sealed inside of one of your creatures, who must be sacrificed in order to release it again.

Generous Stray and Spiteful Nekomata

I knew that I desperately wanted a maneki-neko card (the art I found doesn't do a great job of conveying that), and I liked the idea of having it mirrored against a nekomata in Green and Black (the colors for the Spirit draft archetype). Originally I intended both to be Spirits, but the design was so close to Generous Stray that I decided that a reprint with maneki-neko inspired art would suffice. The Black one came easy then: essentially just a reflection of every aspect of Generous Stray. I worked on the flavour text for a while to find something I liked that could be mirrored as cleanly as I was hoping for.

Toolsmith's Hokura

Shrines are primarily intended as a Green/White theme, but there will likely be at least one cycle so that each color gets some love. This card references a myth that any item that survives to be a hundred years old gains a spirit of its own and comes to life. I haven't decided yet whether Shrines will continue their precedent of caring about the number of Shrines you control, and this version of the effect seemed to capture the reference most directly.

EDIT: After I uploaded, the fact that it didn't reference your other Shrines just annoyed me more and more until I came up with a solution I could live with. I did wind up simplifying the power/toughness part of the effect to save text space for it.

Kami of the Trodden Path

When I was preparing to upload these I realised I had one of each color except White, so I grabbed the White member of a cycle to balance that out. The cycle is common virtual vanilla Spirits with Splice onto Spirit. I played it safer with the Green and Black ones (the colors with the most Spirit support in Limited), and allowed myself to push the others a little. The "this creature" templating isn't strictly necessary - Glacial Ray didn't bother with it, but since (almost) every card in the cycle has a trigger that refers to itself, I thought it might aid in comprehension.

#magic #mtg #custom magic card #Kamigawa #kyuubi #maneki neko #tsukumogami #magic the gathering